Thailand has announced new national regulations limiting the use of underwater cameras to experienced scuba divers.
The new move is designed to help protect vulnerable coral reefs. The Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment has decreed that only divers certified as Advanced Open Water level or equivalent, or Open Water Divers with a logbook showing at least 40 ‘deep’ dives, are now eligible to take cameras underwater.
To ensure compliance with the new directive, underwater photographers must present their certification or logbook to officials when requested to do so. The new regulations came into force on April 23, 2025.
The latest move comes because the ministry attributes some of the reef damage in Thailand to diving tourism, stressing the urgent need to protect marine ecosystems.
The ministry reasons that inexperienced divers can struggle to maintain neutral buoyancy and good diving practices while capturing images underwater. As a result, the practice of novices using cameras during training, examination dives or immediately after qualifying as Open Water Divers is now banned in Thailand.
Additionally, training courses or guided dives are now restricted to a maximum of four scuba divers or 20 snorkelers per guide. Also, snorkelers can now only swim in locations where the corals are 2m/6ft deeper than the surface. Snorkelers are also required to wear life vests unless they have completed a freediving or scuba diving course.
Dive operators, instructors and divemasters are mandated to act immediately if they observe any diver or snorkeler disregarding these new rules. Failure to intervene or to inform tourists about the regulations can result in the revocation of their licenses and they could face heavy penalties, including up to two years of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 200,000 baht/~US6,121/~£4,500/~€5,389.
